


Playing With the Lights Off

by Megadork



Series: There’s an Imposter (Among Us) [1]
Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Among Us (Video Game) Setting, Crewmate (Among Us) - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Imposter (Among Us) - Freeform, LGBTQ Characters, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Mira HQ (Among Us), Other, Polus (Among Us), The Skeld (Among Us), Video Game: Among Us, lgbtq+
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:15:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26692813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megadork/pseuds/Megadork
Summary: Pink was requested from Mira HQ to join the crew of 11.Pink is an engineer/technician. Yellow is in charge of security/lower and upper engines and making sure the storage room is organized. Blue is security. Purple is an engineer/technician. Black is the leader, pilot, and in charge of making sure everyone eats. Red is the co-pilot and in charge of making sure everyone gets rest.Lime is a Adminstration-coordinator with Brown. White and Cyan insure the reactor is working incase they need Purple or Pink to fix it. Orange is in charge of weapons and making sure no asteroids damage the helm and making sure the shields are in top shape. Green is in charge of insuring the oxygen is running throughout the ship and is the medical officer.-Yellow and Pink meet for the very first time on the ship, The Skeld. Pink is cautious around the crew but there is something about Yellow that draws Pink to her.-2 Imposters Remain...
Relationships: Blue/Purple (Among Us) (No-Strings) (One-Night Stand), Brown/Cyan (Among Us), Green/Purple (Among Us), Lime/Red (Among Us), Orange/Black (Among Us), Pink/Yellow (Among Us), White/Pink (Among Us) (Rape)
Series: There’s an Imposter (Among Us) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942435
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I got a super idea for this fic and I hope I can write it straight through! It’ll be 15 chapters long. 12 for all 12 of the crew and an extra three chapters! One for a prologue, a normal ending, and another for an alternative ending. This will focus mainly on Yellow and Pink’s relationship, but other crewmates will be involved.
> 
> Enjoy! 😇

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink meets the new crew. Will they welcome her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 🥳🥳🥳

The Mira HQ was one of those ships where you knew the name but couldn’t put an image to it. However, the same could not be said for Pink’s rather unfortunate case. Her fingers fidgeted in front of her chest, her breathing uneven, helmet fogging. Pink’s last crew consisted of just 4 of them, each one aggressive as the next... you could say they tried taking advantage. The men were kind, or maybe one preferred female? The alpha females of the group were rough and didn’t consider casualties. Needless to say, they sacrificed her.

Maybe they came to their senses at the end when the leader pushed her into an escape pod and initiated the countdown sequence. Maybe Periwinkle saw Pink’s fear. Or maybe she just wanted her dead when she drained the O2 out of the chamber, destroyed the wires beyond repair, and left her with a cracked helmet, slowly suffocating for hours until the Mira HQ found her stranded thousands of miles away from the crew’s ship. 

The ship was called The Scythe and they were known as Traitors and Deserters. The Mira has tried compensating for the traumatic experience, but the only thing that has kept Pink’s mind at peace was the warmth of the Greenhouse room, feeling the fragile leaves of the healthy green plants. She couldn’t stay here forever though. It had been more than a few months when HQ set her up with another crew ship: The Skeld. They informed her that they needed another engineer and someone good with electrical appliances aboard. She didn’t believe it could be different this time- were they aggressive like the last ones? Were they friendly? Pink closed her eyes, trying to calm her breathing down, watching as the cockpit to the Skeld locked into the Mira, and prepared herself to leave.

The corridors seemed longer now, leaving the comfort of a place where many of them lived and some that respected her. She tried to shake these thoughts once she stood in front of the door that would lead her to the decontamination room, then to meet her new crewmates. The air grew cold outside her pink space suit as the doors hissed open, closing behind her after she heard a familiar voice call out to her. “Pink! Wait, don’t tell me you forgot to tell me goodbye!” She quickly turned to see her friend Gray, her blonde hair bouncing just insight inside her space helmet. The grey-suited female squeezed through the closing doors, panting with her hands on her knees after making sure her whole body made it through. 

Pink laughed at the disheveled look on her friend's face once she stood at full height again. They were the same height with maybe an inch difference between the two, but they agreed it didn’t matter who was taller. “No! Well... I might have.” She rubbed the back of her collared neck, flustered at the look Gray was giving her.

Looking to the ground, crossing her arms she continued, “It’s just crazy that the headquarters thinks I’m ready for another mission- let alone that this crew is ready for another crewmate.” Pink sighed, shaking her head sadly while Gray put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her in for a hug as soon as the mist to decontaminate was issued. They pulled away, holding each other at arm's length, giggling when the Skeld’s ship doors slid open suddenly. 

A gentle, deep voice called out, “Are we interrupting something, novice?” Pink turned her head to see a rich-colored red standing on the other side and grew self-conscious. How embarrassing! Gray pulled away first, a delicate smile forming at the corners of her mouth, then turned to the newcomer, which was ironic since she was the new one. They gave a mutual nod to one another, and Pink understood that Gray just told him to fuck off if he tried anything.

Her friend’s blue gaze found hers and whispered, “Goodbye, Nakama...” Pink repeated the same phrase back, not entirely sure what it meant but knew it was friendly enough. Squeezing her friend’s arms a little tighter, Pink reluctantly let go and walked in to stand beside the spaceman. Gray stayed where she was, waving at her friend with a bright, shaky smile. The doors started to close when Pink remembered something, “Teal...!” She called out her friend’s lover’s name, but the doors had already clicked shut, secured. Through the little window, she saw Gray hold a thumbs up, showing she heard and knew what she wanted.

The breath left her body uncomfortably as the nervous twitch of her foot caught the attention of the intense red figure standing beside her. Sensing the tense position he’d put her in he spoke up, “The others are in the cafeteria, and before I forget to show you around, this is the storage room. This is where you will see our second most experienced crewmate, Yellow.” The name pulled her away from thoughts of her friend and made her heart race. “-working on the lower engine, and making sure everything we’ve been storing in here is still worth working with.” She gave a polite nod, thoughtful of the work that must be done to catalog every object/thing in the room, and calibrate the engines! “We can make our way to the Shields room to our right or we can head left to the lower engines. It’s up to you!” He added enthusiastically, you could almost hear the smile in his voice. 

Pink put a hand to her chin, thinking carefully before saying, “Left. Assuming the ship is similar to the Mira, there will be more to cover this way than there is where your Navigation room is held.”

Impressed with her knowledge, the man held his gloved hand out and said, “Welcome to the crew, Pink! You’ll fit in right with a smarty brain like yours. My name is Red, and I am your co-pilot/co-leader of the Skeld. You may address me as Red or Captain Red, no pressure.” 

_ Shit! Co-leader?! Did you just show up to one of the ship’s main admires?! _

“Haha... Co-leader?! Uh!- I’m sorry, I just, I mean, Hi, I’m Pink! Oh, no, you already knew that.” Red put an arm around his middle, lifting the other to the middle of his helmet as if holding in a laugh. Taking a breath, she corrected herself, “...Thank you, Red. I do feel welcomed here. Though I was a little worried... but that seems to be no trouble now!”

Red looked at her suspiciously, the tilt of his helmet giving that much away, “Trouble?”

”Something that happened a few months ago... I trust that the HQ has informed you of it before letting me aboard. Usually, the Captain has to confirm the transfer. You did confirm it right? I’m not here under falsification?” Pink worried her gloves, pulling the silicon fabric, her foot twitching again.

His helmet perked in recognition, a file he must have read late at night and accepted without much thought. He might have to watch his back if Black ever ends up hearing of it... “Ah! Yes, I recall it now! Don’t worry about it, and I won’t say a word!”

”I appreciate the reassurance!” A soft blush covered her smiling cheeks, “Often Captains, or, co-Captains in your case, would want their crew to know about a foreign crewmate’s past. I wasn’t sure if it would be the same here.”

Yeah, Black was going to have his head. Red had no clue what was on that file. Was it a simple thief issue or something possibly worse?

Red motioned his arms toward the open door that would lead them past Electrical: “Shall we continue this tour? The crew will be anxious to meet you!” He hoped the change of subject didn’t make her wary of him.

The thought of meeting more people distracted the subject change, settling in the pit of her stomach and she could feel the parasite of anxiety bloom there. “Aha! Y- Yes, the rest of the crew!”

”You didn’t think you’d stay under the radar for long, did you?” Red teased and Pink shushed him, enjoying the distraction. Rubbing the collar around the front of her neck she followed Red through the doors leading out of the storage room. It was quiet, cool, and the clinking of their space boots tapping against the ground was relaxing.

He showed her the basics of what was to be expected of the Electrical room; however, a wire sparked and wiggled free toward Red due to the anti-gravity and the panel being left open. Pink surprised him by immediately springing into action, grabbing the loose wire and sticking it back into the correct color. Then, she noticed the other colors were out of place as well, correcting them. She closed the panel with *caclank* and turned to see a concerned Red, who exclaimed, “Without electrical grounds?! Are you insane!? Why would you work so dangerously!”

Pink giggled, more comfortable in a working environment she was familiar with. “Relax!~ I have grounds built into my gloves, which come in handy in these kinds of situations, as you have witnessed.” Letting out a giant sigh, he ‘hmmed’ and put an arm around her neck as they walked back into the hall. 

It was quiet again, the two still getting used to each other’s company, except for the continued clinking and their breathing fogging up their glass helmet screens. Red removed his arm, patting her right shoulder wing before saying, “It’s usually-

A male voice interrupted Red, traveling down from the Security and Reactor hall when they entered the Lower Engine room. “Hey, who’s down here! Captain’s orders that we wait in the café with everyone else! I swear if I catch that it’s you, Cyan, we’re going to have a problem.”

Pink stayed standing by the railing that wrapped around the engine while Red walked further ahead, the crown atop his helmet shivering when he stopped at the doorway. “I should hope not.” The lower pitch to his voice shook her boots, he is terrifying when he wants to be, wasn’t he? She thought as she watched his right hand come to rest on his hip. “Now, whoever is hanging around the Reactor when they SHOULD be in the Cafeteria with the rest of the crew... You better hope I don’t catch you here again, alone.”

A tense silence carried over the area until a hesitating, “Co-Red?” drifted across the short distance. The former mentioned grunted at the title, which clearly showed the person voicing themselves did not respect Red as much as he had wanted them to or liked to. Should I say something? She hesitated, lifting her hand then walked forward to stand just behind Red’s shoulder. The lights were dimmed (something must still be wrong in Electrical), but the thought of going back into that dark room made her legs feel weak. 

In front of them was only an outline of a person she could make out before it seemed to turn and head back to where they had come from. Red looked over his shoulder down at Pink. She could clearly see his face now: dark caramel skin, chocolate eyes, and red highlights in his black dreads. She blinked her blue eyes at him and he smiled before turning to look in front of him again.

“Do you know who it was down there?” 

Red nodded and said, “Yes, it was our Mechanic, White. I don’t know why, but he has this stupid grudge against Cyan.” He sighs, rubbing his arms as if it’ll keep the unnatural chill out of it. “Let’s continue before it gets too late.”

\------

Once the left side of the ship was scouted and reviewed for Pink’s knowledge, Red decided to leave MedBay for last. He’d said, “They’ll hear us before we even get inside and I want to keep them waiting a little longer.” She agreed, not one to argue against having a few moments longer to just the two of them. “Besides, he continued, “I want you to meet Black before the rest of the shipmates. He’ll likely be in Navigation, preparing for us to undock.” The thought of meeting another Captain the same day made her woozy. It’s not like she could or would ignore them but she feared the judgment. Red was kind and considerate but Black might be the opposite if he’d read her file as well. Maybe I shouldn’t mention it, was what her mind pleaded but her heart knew that it would be suspicious to leave a detail like that out of a first impression.

As they approached the Communications room, the internal clock in her helmet stated it had only been a little over an hour since she boarded, and wondered if the other members were eating, or sitting around doing nothing. It was possible they had the day off to meet her, but she doubted that it was that big of a deal to have a new engineer aboard. Also, the Skeld hadn’t left yet. And, it wouldn’t until Black confirmed that he and his crewmates approved of her being aboard and that she was the right person. 

She prayed that The Mira hadn’t mixed up the files again.

Nobody interrupted them as they passed in and out of the Communications room, or where Red showed her how the shields worked. As they made their way up the hallway toward Navigation, however, a purple suit with hunched shoulders stood in the corner by a giant vent. 

“Purple?” 

It was still surprisingly quiet where they were and Pink wondered if the floors had interior padding for echoes. 

“Aggh!!!” A jolt went through Purple’s body. The yellow wiring she had been trying to reconnect twitched up to the pink one, shocking her! The girl turned around, revealing her fuming red face, “Red! You could have caused a serious power outage! What if that had gone straight to my heart, huh!? Who’s gonna fix the lights then?!” The amount of heat coming off of this Purple bean caused Pink to take a step back. If it was her, she would have put extra grounding gear on and made sure that the wire she was holding was nowhere near another wire to cause such an accident. Of course, she could always be exaggerating.

Red just chuckled and looked over at Pink. Please don’t involve me, please don’t involve me, please don’t in-

“Well, we do have another engineer and technician on board, so I don’t think we have much to worry about, right Pink?” She dodged behind him before Purple could move her gaze over but she must have been too slow.

“Is he, she, or they, shy?” The voice of Purple asked, the tone more neutral than angry now.

Red couldn’t help thinking about Pink’s file at that moment and made a mental note to look for it in his history logs. “She isn’t shy…She just isn’t used to the idea of being around so many people she hardly knows.” 

That wasn’t a lie… he did read her file, _didn’t he?_

“We all know each other so she feels like an outsider.” 

Pink peeked from behind Red’s shoulder and saw a gushing Purple, “Oh.My.God! Look at her! She’s so cute! She’s so small, too! Look at her!” Purple advanced forward, while Pink’s internal gears jittered when Red moved out of the way, leaving her vulnerable. A squeak left her mouth as a natural response to being squeezed into a tight hug. It was bulky with the helmets in the way yet Purple found a solution to that problem by lifting her in the air. Pink’s immediate response was to lift her legs and wrap them around Purple’s torso, which was TOTALLY inappropriate!! Oh god, this is so embarrassing! Pink looked to Red for help, but he was flustered and laughing at the position she was in. She didn’t want to be rude and say “put me down”, right? Right!?

Purple was still making fussy noises over the size of her when a throat was cleared in front of her. She dared not look up. Red stood to attention immediately but Purple just turned around, Pink’s back facing the person now, and cheerfully waved, “Hiya, Black!” There seemed to be cartoon-like flowers dancing around her head, and the image made Pink’s head spin. This new Black person, wait, no, _shit that’s the Captain!_ She tried pulling her legs down to stand at attention but Purple made this face and grabbed her thighs, keeping her there. _Oh my god, why? Why is this happening!?_

Her head was still resting over Purple’s shoulder and she felt like a child! She figured relaxing in the grip would let Purple know she wanted OUT, and yet the hold was still there. She heard the clearing of the throat again and grew even more embarrassed.

“Purple.”

“Yes, Captain?~” 

“Put the poor girl down, please.” The exasperated tone he presented showed how tired he was with Purple- with probably the whole crew.

“Aye, aye, sir!~” 

He sighed again, but at least she listened to him this time. 

Pink slowly turned around, ruffled and nervous, hesitant to look up at the Captain but she willed herself to. The air of power surrounding him was almost too much. She shakily saluted him, “Glad to be here, sir!” _Shit! I meant to say, Captain!_

Black growled, “Cut the crap. Why are you here?” The shiny black helmet he wore seemed to glare at her.

To her right, Red returned his hand to his side, confused, “Uh, Captain Black? I told you about the new transfer, didn’t I? Even if I didn’t, HQ should have-

Black interrupted, growling again, “No, you didn’t, and no, they didn’t.”

Pink nervously twitched her foot the third time today, clenching and unclenching her gloved hands for the same reason. Purple put her right hand on her middle back, pushing her forward as if to encourage her to stand up for herself.

Black looked at her menacingly and she almost cowarded into Purple; however, she held her ground and said, “HQ sent a file a week ago that I would be transferring here under the Captain’s permission. Red informed me that he did receive this file, that he did read it, and that it was confirmed, signed, and approved.” There would be no other reason to dock here unless they needed to resupply… Pink pondered this a moment, her hand resting on her lower helmet- a natural response to raising it to her chin without it.

Red looked scared shitless, Purple looked proud for her, and Black… he, well, he looked amused. “Haha, I was just messing with you guys! I know the file you’re talking about. My Co-Captain and I looked over it right, captain Red?” 

Or maybe it was fake amusement.

“Hahaha… Yes, we did! See? Nothing to worry about, haha.” Red said, looking at Pink with a nervous nod. “I wanted our novice to see you before any of the other crewmates but we’ve already run into White as a shadow and Purple fixing the lights’ wires.” As if on cue, the lights in the ship brightened, a loud clanking sound occurring as they shut on. Purple cheered, already standing by the panel she had turned back to- to continue fixing. Black rolled his shoulders forward then rested his heels back. Pink looked at Red, wondering, _so do we continue the tour?_ Even behind their tinted glass, she could feel the worried rolling off the stance he was holding himself. Also, there was something off about the way Black joked about not reading the file, then saying he did in fact read it. It could be her over-analysis of the situation but _if that had happened with her old crew…._ She shuddered at the thought. 

“Let’s continue our little tour, and then we can finish up the day with some homemade lasagne!” Red patted his belly and cheered at the exact same moment Pink’s own stomach growled at the prospect of food. 

“Yeah, Cyan will appreciate a new member eating his food since he worked all night on it,” Black said, a cross of his arms to show his dominance.

Purple snorted, “If you mean almost burning the ship down twice, sure.”

A little worried, she looked to Red to see him almost shoulder-to-shoulder with her. “I should probably stop this before it gets worse.” She didn’t know what ‘worse’ meant in this situation but she nodded in agreement. 

Black uncrossed his arms and pointed a finger at himself, “What do you mean, sure? Do I look unsure to you?”

Red tried to get in between them, “That isn’t true- 

“Well, I don’t know, do you feel unsure?”

“Is that insubordination!?”

“Do you want me to make it insubordination?”

They both huffed and exclaimed, “Captain/Red?!”

“Stop it and listen! You’re both setting bad examples!” He turned his body to gesture at Pink, “We’re supposed to welcome her! Not drive her away… and Black,” Red gave him an accusing stare, “You’re the Captain for Mira’s sake!”

“Purple- you’re in the same degree area as Pink! She needs someone to work with, not bicker with.” Red sighed, it seemed like he was always trying to settle a fight wherever he walked on the ship. 

“I have a tyro to show around, so while you two figure out who is the bigger person here, we are leaving. Black, I’ll send you a report on yesterday’s task later, and Purple,” Red paused until she looked away from Black to him, “try to stay out of trouble, please.” He gestured to Pink to follow him, leaving the two behind them.

As the two of them made their way past Navigations, Pink couldn't help herself to ask, “Does that happen every day?”

Red said something about showing her Navigations later and then answered, “No, usually I can go a full day without one of us getting into a fight.” They made it to the O2 room and he pointed to the oxygen tank with a keypad and two screens sitting on either side of it. “We usually monitor these screens to see if any of the numbers change. You’ll see Green the most in this room, keeping tabs on any changes in data, and in MedBay since he is the certified Medical Officer here.” 

Curiously, she touched the screen and watched as an ⚠️Error⚠️ message popped up. “Hmm… Is it fingerprint activated or face recognition?”

Once more Red found himself impressed. “Both, actually, but since you’re new and the ‘mates need to get used to you around the ship’s appliances, we’ll have you use the card swipe.” She noticed a slit on the side of the left monitor and gave an approving nod. She had her authorization card in her suit pocket at all times anyway. “There isn’t much else here except the garbage chute and the O2 filter that needs to be tended to at least once a day.”

Before he led her out of the cool room, she messed with the filter, trying to decipher the difference between it and the one at the Mira. The chute was a little different too: instead of having a button to confirm the emptying after pulling the lever, it seemed like a two-part task. "Where do you go from here to completely empty the trash?" She turned to look at Red, waiting for an answer while he checked something on the O2 monitors. 

He seemed really concentrated. "Red?"

"Huh?- OH! Sorry, what did you say?"

"Where does the trash go? Is there more than one?"

Red chuckled, more at himself than at her.  _ Of course, I have to be the one to answer this.  _ "There are three garbage chutes: one each, in the cafeteria quarters, this room (O2), and the storage room." It may have seemed like pointless information but if she knew where all of them connected she could use the knowledge to her advantage. For example, she could divert their power to the main drive (the reactor core) in case they needed the extra boost.

They continued out of O2 into the Weapons sector where they spotted- “Orange? Why is no one staying in the eating quarters... Is everyone so bored that they can’t sit around for at least a few hours?” Pink stood beside him with a funny poker face (not that anyone could see it unless they were close enough) and watched as the fruit-colored suit turned around with a finger pointed up.  “First of all, I’m in charge of Weapons, so it doesn’t matter what you want, the  _ Asteroids _ want my sexy ass to destroy them~”

Pink awkwardly shifted, “...uh.” 

Orange turned his helmet toward the newcomer and jolted, “Captain!~ You didn’t tell me we were getting a cutie aboard!” She expected to get crowded again, much like Purple had done, but he stopped a good five feet away. “Hi! I’m Orange! Although… you might occasionally hear me be referred to as Juice Box due to an ongoing joke…”

Black was behind them now, “My Tropics Sundae~”

“Eh? Where did you come from!?” Red shrieked.

“The vents~” The captain said in a mysterious tone, then laughed, “No, I’m just messing with you guys. I finished the undocking procedures but, as promised to the HQ, we need to make sure the others approve of her.”

Orange crossed the distance between him and Captain Black by racing past Pink and Red, and jump-hugging him, “I approve of her! Look at her! She’s so cute! Please say yes! Please say yes!”

_ I doubt they’re captain is going to “yes” because someone thinks I’m “cute”... _

“I’m not making a decision until the rest of the shipmates have seen her. Until then, it’s a no.”

For that, she admired Black’s ability to resist Orange’s perky attitude and adorable hops to gain his attention. Orange was sulking now, though, and she felt a little jealous at their closeness, watching Black affectionately rub Orange’s helmet top. Bringing his hands to his lovers’ shoulders, Black spun him around to face them again and suggested, “Why don’t you show Pink how the Weapons work? I’m sure she’ll appreciate having a professional giving her some tips.” 

It appeared to have cheered him up because he pulled away from Black and dragged Pink by the hand to the weapon’s chair. “I have some asteroids to take care of, so you can help while I teach you! Here! Take the joystick! I’ll guide you!” He stood to the side, while she sat in the hard leather-like chair, and pointed to the wall where it started to dissipate. It opened up to show space itself expanding out in front of her. The weapon could be seen just about the lower middle of the wall/screen/ship. 

Sticking her tongue out, Pink concentrated on shooting the slow moving asteroids. After destroying 10 of them, she started to grow lethargic which wasn’t a good thing to have while in Space. Not that she wasn’t used to it… It was possible she just needed to hit the treadmill after meeting everyone. She was born in space, like many these days, while her parents lived on Kepler-5, an Earth-like planet that was named after the 5th generation of the Kepler planets.

But, back on feeling sluggish- Orange took notice right away: Pink’s head was clearly lulling to the side and the front of her, raising up quickly when it tapped her sternum. “You’re so good at this Pink!~” He complimented, deciding between the nod-offs that he should take over. Pink’s head shot up again and she flushed at the praise, obviously not expecting it. 

“Here, I'll shoot the next 5. Go and finish your tour and we’ll catch up with the two of you.” He removed himself from the side of the chair, a suction noise coming from his suit that had stuck to the fabric, reaching their audio receptors. They both giggled. Pink patted Orange’s shoulder and met Red at the entrance to the Cafeteria. The doors were sensored shut until one of them decided to take a step further. 

“Are you ready to meet the crew?” 

Pink gulped and responded, “I just hope it goes smoothly.”

“As do I,” She looked back at Black, leaning against the back of the Weapons chair, while Orange was setting up the joystick to his preference. “As do I.” He repeated with a shake of his head, arms crossed defenseless against his chest.

Red walked forward and the doors hissed quietly, sliding away quickly. She cleared her throat once and followed cautiously behind him. 

Strings of conversations bounced across the walls delicately, the thought of extra padding under the steel floors still in the back of her mind. 

“When do you think we’ll meet them? It has been hours!” She found the voice belonged to a Cyan colored suit. He was standing in front of the others: Blue, Purple, Yellow, Lime, Brown, Green, and White.

Blue called out, “Uh, isn’t that them?”

She heard a gasp, “Cyan! Apologize to them!” Pinpointing the voice, she saw the color of the sun stand up, hands on their hips.

“What are you talking about? They aren’t even here-

“Ahem.” At the sound of Red clearing his throat, all eight of them turned their heads to look at her. Like Red, Orange, herself, and Black- Yellow, Green, Purple, and White still had their helmets locked on.

“Yet.” The finishing of his sentence was almost amusing but she kept a straight face. Her nerves felt like lightning and her stomach crawled uneasily. She felt like she was going to start panicking with so many eyes on her. She could feel the trendles of fear wrap around her, like she was caught in a web, like prey. 

Red’s hand slapped her shoulder, shocking her out of her illusions. “Everyone, meet our new crewmate, Pink!” 

And that’s when the murmuring started.

_ “Didn’t you say that the last Pink you met ended up being spaced because….?” _

_ “Why are we recruiting another one?” _

_ “She’s so smol! Yellow! Look how cute she is! I told you she was super funsize!” _

_ “Moma? Who’s that?” _

“Ahem!” Red cleared his throat again, once again catching everyone’s attention. “Can you all show a little more respect? This is not how we behave around our fellow teammates! Welcome her, and cherish her. Treat her like she’s family, please!” She could still hear a couple of soft-spoken voices but they were too far away for her to catch anything.

“I’ve had the pleasure of showing Pink around the ship, but we haven’t looked in on MedBay. I usually would send Green with you,” he said, referring to Pink, “but seeing as how Cyan has volunteered himself-

“I didn’t volunteer,” Cyan started but quickly shut his mouth when he saw the way Red was standing, a wordless way of saying,  _ “You will do what I ask of you.” _

Cyan’s eyes wobbled worriedly, a short expression of fear racing across before it was gone.  _ What is he scared of?  _ She hesitated for the 100th time that day before shaking her nerves and walking up to Cyan. “Hi! I’m Pink, and you must be Cyan.” She held her hand out but he didn’t take it- he just stared at it like it was alien. She wanted to punch herself. How many times was she going to double introduce herself?? “So,” she squeaked, clearing her throat to ask, “MedBay?”

The light auburn-hair atop his head floated gentle over his ears when he jut his head behind him. “Follow me, and don’t even try faking yourself into this crew.” As if to prove his point he looked pointedly at White. She didn’t understand, but knew (from recent encounters) that they didn’t like each other. “Red, tell Black he can inform HQ we received the package.” Pink didn’t like the thought of being considered a meager object but waved at Red as he left to find Black, and followed Cyan.


	2. A White Serpent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink gets to know Cyan, Green, and Brown better.
> 
> Someone is lying

The heart monitor in the familiar chilly room brings me a form of anxiety. The slow beeps remind me of the agonizing seconds I spent with little to no oxygen, my suit screaming the dangerously low levels at me. Cyan is messing with some glass tubes, a purple liquid in each veil. It looks similar to how one would take blood samples and study them. I was currently sitting on the Med-bed, the heart monitor measuring my blood pressure (BP) and BPM (beats per minute). 

I call out, “Cyan?”

He responds curtly, “Cy.”

“You want me to- oh, um.. okay, Cy. Uh, what are those samples for? Like, what are they _specifically_?” 

The wrap around my arm decompresses and I take it out, rubbing the slightly sore spot. The BP reads 120/139. I stare a little longer than necessary at the numbers. It sounds normal, or looks normal..? _I thought I fixed this problem already?_ The BPM reads a hearty 90 beats. I worry at my gloves again.

Cyan stands still, stalling on the question as he concentrates on making sure there are no anomalies. I sigh quietly, but not quiet enough because he turns his head sideways to look at me. His auburn hair sticks to the sides of his face, a wavy curl over his ears. He says, “Impostor blood.”

_Impostor…? Impostor... blood?_

“What’s a-?”

“Ask Green… I’m just here to help him catalog the samples we retrieved on Polus. I have no knowledge of what he’s doing with them.”

 _Polus?!_ “But-

“Please, Pink,” he beseeched, then sighed when he saw the way I stiffened at his tone. “I guess I’m just a little hungry. Did Red tell you about what I made?”

“Something about lasagna?”

“Yeah,” he smiled kindly, “Something about lasagna.”

\- - - - -

Everyone had eaten and it was time for lights out. Black had long since undocked the Skeld from the Mira and was now resting in his assigned room with Orange. Red was sitting by himself at the upper right table; Cyan was sitting in Brown’s lap with Green sitting next to him on his left at the upper left table; Purple was sitting with Yellow and I at the bottom left table; while, White sat next to Blue, Lime on White’s right, and her son next to her on her right side at the lower right table. 

“I’m heading to watch cams,” Blue says to White, placing his messy, empty plate into one of the panels on the wall. I watch with interest as it shut after he removed his hand, a mist surrounding the plate. Then the wall behind it opened bringing the plate through it. He walks quickly away….

Cyan hand-feeds Brown while I notice White glaring at the two from his table. Lime is trying to get his attention but gives up and turns to her son. Red waves at me in “goodnight” and Green is staring at Purple. I thought it was glare at first but it looks as though he is mooning. I turn back around to look at Purple but instead find Yellow’s attention on me. I jump, blushing in nervousness. Her dark brown hair complemented her light amber eyes. Which we’re currently roaming lower and lower… “Uh, Pink?” I jump again, turning to see Purple giving me and Yellow an awkward look. “Can I tell you something?” 

I glance at Yellow, then nod my head, “Sure, of course.” As we get up to go somewhere more private, I see Green leave the cafeteria silently. 

\- - - - -

Green pulls me aside, removing his helmet, making me do the same. He looks over my shoulder, Purple the last to leave the cafeteria as they give each other a parting “goodnight” nod. He turns to me again, the happy light leaving his gaze and worry replacing it. “I checked over your physical results while you, and everyone else, were eating.”

I crease my eyebrows and ask, “Is that why you left so ominously? What’s wrong?” The numbers come back to me and I begin to worry as well. My foot twitches.

“I wanted to recalculate the results to see if they’d change… It’s nothing serious at the moment but….” He pauses, pressing some things on his open pad.

I have a hunch on what it is and so I ask, “I have heart failure, don’t I?”

“No! No, no, not quite so dramatic.” He laughs dejectedly, still typing away. “It’s a mild case of prehypertension,” I sigh in relief and go to say something, but he continues, “It’s nothing that can’t be fixed. We just need to set you up on more workout hours and have you eat something more high in potassium and fiber, okay?”

“Actually, Green…,” I start as he still types away on his screen.

“Yes?” He says distractedly.

“I already know this.”

“Oh don’t worry! It’s- Wait, what?” His startled gaze almost makes me want to laugh in irony but I hold it back, clearing my throat, “It’s on my file, from HQ… I was actually diagnosed a few months ago. It’s not prehypertension.”

“It’s pulmonary hypertension.”

“Pulmon…? But that means-“

“Yes… just, ask Red for the file, or Black. All my lab examinations/background information are on there.” I sniffled once, rubbing at my face before replacing my helmet. “Brown said he needed my help with something in Admin. See you tomorrow?” I don’t initially wait for a response, then I see him nod. 

\- - - - -

Brown’s already busy at the admin computers, bashing a few keys in the process. “Hey. Careful on the delicate techno pieces, yeah?” I seem to have startled him when I call out in the still air.

“Ah! Yes… Sorry, I think something’s wrong with the wiring. Mind taking a look?”

“Is it just the one?”

“The one- Oh! No, it’s actually all of them.”

I laugh, “Considering how you keep pressing the same key over and over to cancel, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had overloaded an outlet.” I enter the room fully and start working on the wiring under the main table. 

“Isn’t the wiring on the wall?” Brown asks, a tone of confusion in his voice.

I laugh again, “Yes, and no. The wiring on the wall is for the ship as a WHOLE. This little box of wires here is the computer circuits. Which is why I’m telling you it doesn’t take a lot to short-circuit them.” I hear him hum in response as I continue my work on opening the box. The wires take some maneuvering as they are twisted and burnt at some middle parts from overheating. 

It takes a couple of hours before I finish. Brown is still typing away on the computer after I finish placing the wires back in their proper place. "How did you and Cyan meet?" I ask, moving to sit in one of the chairs next to him. He looks at me with, I'm assuming, a smile since his helmet is on. I remember his black locks though, and the way his hazel eyes stared lovingly at his lover.

"I was on a ship called the Crab Pulsar." _A story!_ I lean in closer, excited. He continues, "I was a transfer from there onto the Mira, and I met Purple before the crew was put together." Something pops up on the screen but he ignores it. "I was having a particularly hard day with transferring my files over to HQ and Purple was trying to talk with the head of the ship to fix it for me." He sighs dreamily, "And there he was... yelling at White."

"So, wait," I interrupt, "Cyan has had a grudge against White since before the voyage??" I lean back in the chair, baffled. 

Brown nods, a serious air around him, "Yes, something about a change of personality. Apparently, they knew each other before White left on the Polus Expedition-

"He was on the Polus Expedition!?"

"Yes? What's up?"

"That's where no one has heard from the crew! They landed on the planet, and one came back (which must've been White) to report. HQ never made another attempt to retrieve them."

Brown curses, "Shit... you're right." 

"Do you think he's connected to it?"

"Who? Cyan? no way in hell!"

"NO, I meant White. He _was_ the last one on there..." I put a hand to my helmet chin.

I look to Brown and his visor is accusing, "Are you saying that White is... sus?"

The word is familiar to me, used once on the Scythe, before I was thrown off. I shake my head, nervous, "No, no! I just meant... he was there, and he might have known what happened." He nods but still looks at me suspiciously which makes me start to worry. _Did I already ruin my chances here?_ He clicks and types a few times on the computer screen before looking at me again, "Why don't you head to bed? I'll have Cyan hang with me, he should still be up."

\- - - - -

An alarm ringing through the ship wakes me the next morning or night? There isn’t a sun to tell. 

At first, I think it’s the reactor having a meltdown, or maybe the oxygen supply having an unexpected failure. Then, I see the computer screen on and in the wall to the left of my cot bed, flashing red and white with big letters.

The Emergency Meeting button was pressed.

Purple is sitting up in her bed, groggy and trying to wake up. Her helmet is off and her blonde hair is sticking up. Her violet eyes are almost glowing in the dim lighting of the room. We meet Yellow outside our door, and she looks super hot- _aw Mira why??!_ We walk together to the cafeteria, slow but in a hurry to see what the problem is.

It was Brown.

He’s the first person I see when I walk into the cafeteria behind Purple.

“Brown?” I ask, tired and underslept, “What's the problem?” The poor dude’s shaking and sobbing, pulling at the bottom of his helmet as if he wants it off but he’s struggling so much to breathe. Purple puts a concerning hand on his back while I move in front of him, removing his arms and carefully taking his helmet off. He's crying so much his face has shrunk and his eyes scrunch up in anguish. “Oh, Brown…” I sympathize, pulling the almost too tall man into a hug. “Tell me what’s wrong, huh? What’s got you so upset?” 

The others are starting to pile into the room now. Purple closes the glass case over the button and the alarm stops. The sounds heard were Brown’s uncontrollably sobbing and the confused voices rising over them. White comes in last, a little skittish and unnaturally calm.

I continue to rub his back until White speaks, “What's the big idea? Why was the button pushed?” It sounds almost played out, scripted. 

I look around and notice Cyan and Green are missing.

Brown suddenly pulls out of my arms, causing me to stumble into Yellow. She catches my shoulder and looks down at me as I look up. We share a smile, our helmets off. Brown shouts, “Liar! You know why!” His anger scares a few of the crewmates outside of the table. Lime holds her son closer while Orange shifts into behind Black’s back. 

Red comes forward and says, “Now hold on Brown.. What seems to be the issue?” He’s pushing Lime back a little, so she’s hidden like Orange. 

“It’s White!”

Everyone gasps. _It’s White? White, what? Didn't he say I shouldn't make such accusations last night?_ “Are you sure, Brown? Remember what happened to the last White you accused?”

_The last White??_

Brown, hysterical, runs up to White, causing everyone to back away, frightened. _Why are they all so frightened? Can’t they see how upset he is?_

“He’s always had something against Cyan, why wouldn’t it be him!?” Brown shoves his index finger at White’s chest but was looking at Red when White didn’t defend himself.

“It’s so obvious! He isn’t even acting like he did nothing!”

“Brown!” Red shouts, “You need to calm down. Tell us what happened."

Yellow slumps against my back, snuggling into my neck.

“White tried sabotaging the O2 last night when I was working in the admin room. Cyan had been with me so I went into the O2 room while Cyan did the keypad in Admin. I came back in and found White standing over him, unconscious, next to the keypad!”

"This is true!" Everyone's eyes turn to me. I gulp, "I was with him in admin before Cyan came to join us. I was with them until a few minutes before the button was pressed. I had gone back to my room to nap." Purple gives me a sideglance, knowing my statement to be untrue, but doesn't say anything. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Blue roll his eyes, now standing next to Purple, speaking softly to her, “Will you meet me in my quarters tonight?”

I heard everything.

“Uh.. n-no. I think I need to take a break from... uh that. It was just one time.” Purple stuttered, flustered, and turned to look at me. 

Black shuffles out of the room, a quick, “Gotta check the readings in Nav.” No-one seems to notice but me.

I smile awkwardly at her then inwardly gasp when he grabs her shoulder, holding her in place.

“You’re com-

Green intercepted, conveniently coming out of Med-Bay at that exact moment and says, “Hey, Blue!”

Before he can react, Green throws a hard uppercut to his chin. If his helmet hadn’t been off, Green might have broken a few finger bones or shattered the glass of it. Blue crashes to the ground, a loud thump echoing around the cafeteria. “Holy shit!” Orange screams, hugging close to Lime now, whose son was hugging her leg. 

Black was in Navigations still, pinning me something about another ship targeting locking us.

“You’re all fucking idiots!” Brown’s hysterical voice blustered on top of the overlapping conversations of confusion. “It’s fucking White! We all know it’s fucking White! I bet if I hadn’t gotten there in time he would’ve murdered Cyan!” He was full-on sobbing now, looking over toward Med-Bay where Cyan’s supposed body lay inside, recovering.

“Cut the shit, Brown!” 

I look over to Orange, surprised. He was still cowering with Lime and her son, but he held a heated glare on Brown. “We all know you’re faking it! You obviously were going to kill Cyan because he’s been prancing around White all hours! Admit it! You’re jealous! You wussed out when you heard footsteps and knocked him out instead!”

“What the fuck!? It wasn’t me!! How could you accuse me, Orange? You know me, Orange! Why would I want to kill the love of my life!” Brown stressed every word, still crying, hugging himself, but it was easy to spot the steps he was taking backward, toward Med-Bay. “I swan to John! It isn’t me! I saw White do it! You have to believe me!! I fucking saw him! With his fucking shitass tentacles around Cyan’s neck!” Brown moved a leg back, a bit of a stretch between them now. “HE WAS GOING TO KILL HIM!” He made a mad dash toward Med-Bay but Red intercepted him, causing Brown to stumble, allowing Orange and Red to grab a hold of him.

"Do we all agree it's Brown?"

Lime casts a vote.

Orange hits his scree harsh, it's a vote.

Yellow votes, it's a skip.

Purple votes, it's a skip.

White votes, it's against Brown.

Brown votes, it's against White.

I vote White. My suspicions of him on Polus rise again.

Green glares at Brown and votes.

Blue votes, it's against Purple.

Red reluctantly votes, it's against Brown.

Cyan and Black are out.

**WHO IS AN IMPOSTOR?**

Brown 🔴🟢⚪️🔷🟠🟩

➰Purple 🔵

White 🟤💖

Pink 

🔲Black 

Orange

Lime

🔲Cyan

Green

➰Yellow 

Blue 

Red

 **Skip** 🟣🟡

**Majority vote… calculating…**

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎 

**Eject Brown.**

“LET ME GO! IT’S WHITE! LET ME GO, LET ME GO!” His wails sounded pitiful as he struggled in Red and Orange’s grip. Green was still breathing heavily after his short brawl. Purple looked at me with wide, terrified eyes while Blue (leaning against his arms on the ground) wiped at his bleeding nose, a hint of a smirk sitting there. A horrifying thought suddenly occurred to me that maybe Brown was telling the truth and they... they were going to punish the wrong perpetrator! I panic, stumbling away from Yellow to race after the three of them as they move toward the Storage room. 

_The airlock?!_

But it was too late. 

Red slammed the button to close the airlock doors, trapping Brown inside- without his helmet. He banged against the door and window, screaming, wailing, sobbing. His screams were muffled and I couldn’t hear a damn word coming out of his mouth. His lips kept trembling, a predicted ‘IT’S WHITE!’ falling from them.

“Wait! What are you guys doing?!” I shout, trying to push past Orange and meet door-to-window with Brown. To provide him last comfort? I wasn’t sure what they were trying to do! Were they going to Space him?!

“Giving the Impostor what he deserves!” Red.

“Impostor!? What he deserves?! He’s innocent!!”

“And how would you know, hm? Are you working with him?” That was White, standing next to Orange who looked just as mad.

“Working with him?! What are you talking about! Why are you guys acting like this! What the fuck is going on?! Why is Brown in the airlock! What is an Impostor?! I want answers!”

“White, get her out of here. She doesn’t need to see this.” Red solemnly said, as if they’d done this before, as if this was normal, gesturing to move me away.

“No! Let me be by him! Let me. By him!” I struggled against White’s arms, pulling out of his grip, pushing my hand against the glass separating us both. I didn’t know Brown much. We’d only spoken once, and he was monitoring computers in Administration. He’d said something about Cyan then, wanted to make it official, wanted to make a family. I wasn’t really paying attention at the moment, more focused on fixing the admin table’s wires that somehow got twisted. _Why wasn’t I paying attention?!_ I clutch at my head, starting to cry too.

Brown meets my hand, his dark black locks messy, greasy, and snot streaming down his nose as he gazes into my blue irises. Fear reflected in them and I see my own horrified expression reflected in his hazelnut eyes. His mouth begins to move again, saying his last words, “Thank you for believing in me, Pink. Please watch Cyan for me. Tell him... tell him I’m sorry!” I suddenly hear as Red turns on the intercom to the airlock room. 

The tears burn the back of my eyes as I nod, hearing as Red pulled the lever down. The lights around the ship flash red, ringing throughout the corridors, signaling the open doors as Brown slowly floats out of the ship. His cries were still heard over the speakers until he was just floating, outside in space, blending in with the darkness until you could hardly see him. 

Brown was ejected….

。 • ﾟ 。

  * . . . 



。 。 . 

. 。 ඞ 。 . • • 

。 . • ﾟ. 。

. . . 。

. • Brown was Not An Imposter •. 。

“NO!!” I shriek, feeling arms incircle me as I try rushing at Red, anger, and sorrow clouding my mind. “You bastards! You killed him! You killed him!!” At my wailing, Black comes racing down from the cafeteria, entering into where the airlock doors stood in the Storage room. 

“What’s going on here?!” 

I sob against Yellow’s chest, the bright-colored crew-mate managing to restrain me from pouncing on Red.

“And where’s Brown! I need the codes to unlock our weapons system.” As if on cue, a blast hit the side of the ship, causing it to roll sideways and everyone to fall over.

“What the hell was that?!” White shouted over the wires spazzing and the lights flickering before powering back on. Black groaned, “Great, now the generators are running on low power... I won’t ask again! Where is Brown?!”

“He’s dead!” I whimper against Yellow’s suit.

“WHAT?!”

“Red spaced him!” I continue, my broken sobs making my words sound disoriented, “Everyone took a ‘vote’ and threw him out into space! Like garbage! They killed him, Black! They killed Brown!” Yellow tries shushing me, rubbing my back, but I manage to pull away, running away to Med-Bay.

To Cyan. He has to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ➰ = skip vote  
> 🔲 = no vote
> 
> AHhh this took so long! SOrry! enjoyyy


	3. Woefully Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He puts his hand on my bicep, “Stop it. You didn’t… You couldn’t have. What’s done is done. Besides,” he sighs, “this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”
> 
> My voice comes out more heavily than I’d like to admit, “What do you mean?” I ask, wondering if my earlier suspicions were true: that they’ve done this before.
> 
> He sighs again, lacing his fingers together in between his legs, “It was a long time ago. Maybe two synodics before you. The crew was still new at the time. We had two White crewmates and two Yellow crewmates. Funny thing, really, at the time.”
> 
> -
> 
> Black and Red show their true selves, Pink comes to terms with her grief and Cyan forgives his friends. There is a little more activity between Yellow and Pink ;)

_ 9 Crewmates and 2 Impostors remain... _

I run through the halls of the ship, Brown’s words echoing in my mind:  _ Thank you for believing in me, Pink...  _ I shake my head, my tears endless, removing my helmet to whip at my face better.

“Cyan!!”

I throw it on the ground in the Cafeteria. Blue is resting at one of the tables, Green treating his face with antiseptic while Purple and Lime (plus her child) are huddled together. It catches their attention, they call out, but I don’t stop running. The ship rocks again with another shot of rounds at the ship’s main helm.  _ Tell him I’m sorry!  _ I shake my head and call out again _ ,  _ “CYAN!,” pushing around the corner, and  _ I’m so close to the entrance…! _

**_Before Brown’s ejection…._ **

Per Purple’s preference, we end up walking all the way to Communications. She sits in the comforter chair while I stand adjacent to her. The static of voices and the communicator’s beeps were heard through the headsets. She brings her gaze to her lap and says, “I didn’t want to tell anyone but you. I know we’ve just met and it’s only your first day but I can’t keep it to myself anymore!”

I raise an eyebrow confused and ask, “What is it? Why can’t you inform Red of the issue? Is it only a problem for us engineers?”

She shakes her head, the fabric of the suit making a zippy noise, like when you scratch a plastic surface, as it is forged with polyester. “A few days prior, before your arrival, I had been doing tasks with White around the ship… but I- I think he’s lying.”

I place a hand on the table to lean sideways on, asking, “Lying? In what way?” 

“We were in the Reactor. Had to fix some wires in the “Simon says” box. I was inside the under-box so I didn’t see anything; but, White said he was going to do the manifolds so the nuclear reactor engine wouldn’t overheat while I was working.” She’s removing one of her gloves while saying this and her arms are shaking. Red patches of skin become clear on her dark, almost chocolate, skin.

“What the hell?!”

“He didn’t do the manifolds. He-

I interrupt her, “Why haven’t you shown Red?! Or Green??”

“I didn’t want to say anything. He was- White was faking a task! The penalty for that is death!”

“DEATH?!”

“SHH!!” Purple puts her hand up to her helmet, “Not so loud! I don’t want anyone to know about this…” She sighs, “I don’t even know why I’m trusting you with this. I should’ve kept it quiet… He’s probably listening to us right now!” She whisper-yells, quickly replacing her glove, jumping out of the chair. 

“Wait! Purple!” I quiet down when she looks back. “I won’t say anything, but please….! Get your burns checked out, or at least be careful. I don’t want you to get in trouble or be affiliated with him. Make me go instead if he asks for help. Okay?” 

It looks like she wants to disagree so I, “Please, Purple?”, until she agreed. We head back to the cafeteria and it looks like nobody missed us. Yellow waves over with enthusiasm so we rejoin her at the table happily. Purple and I share a short look of understanding:  **Yellow must not know** .

**_Present..._ **

Cyan is awake when I arrive at Med-Bay, Green next to him, handing him a pouch of water. The door slides away and I pant, putting a hand up against the wall to stabilize myself. “Cyan!” I gasp  and both spacemen look at me confused and surprised. “Pink? What’s wrong? Why is the ship jerking around so much? Why are you crying?”

“Attack! Brown!” I manage to gasp out again, too tired and in shock to form a clear explanation. Cyan jerks in his laying down position, the bed-straps restricting his movements, and asks, “Is he alright? The last time I saw him, he was messing on the computers in Admin…”

Regaining my breath, I sputtered, “You mean- you don’t remember the Oxygen tanks being sabotaged?”

“They were? No… Brown and I were managing the Admin computers after you left to sleep.”

Green looks at me suspiciously, “I thought you said you were there until the very last moment- before the meeting was called?”

_ Oh no. _ I laugh nervously, “ Uh- yeah- uh, you- No! That isn't the point here! They (you) ejected Brown and he was innocent! You voted for him, Green! Why?” The sting of tears reach the back of my eyes and the ship jerks to the side once more causing Green to fall on his ass next to Cyan’s resting place. My back crashed into the wall and I grabbed the straps lodged into the wall next to me to prevent myself from falling forward. Cyan had the straps holding him down in the medical bed. 

Cyan looks at Green, “You voted off Brown?!”

Green falters getting up, “I- I don’t, I don’t know anymore. It seemed so sus at the time but now it just seems like we randomly voted.” He reaches for Cyan’s arms but Cyan pulls away, his auburn hair messy, greasy, like Brown’s, and yellow eyes watering. He doesn’t say anything to Green, just cries, curling into himself into a fetal position. Green looks at me helplessly. I snort, rubbing my nose and turning my back on him, looking over my shoulder to say, “Send Cyan to my room when he is finished. I need to speak with Black.” I don’t wait for an answer, too many of the crew had hesitant responses. 

\- - - - -

Crisis averted. 

I slump back in the weapons chair where Black and Red come to check on me. “Good job, Pink.”

“Couldn't have done it without you.”

“Couldn’t have done it without Brown, shitheads….” I say to myself, sarcastically.

“What was that?” Black asks, his visor glinting in the half-light.

“It could have been a lot worse, Captain, is what I said.” 

They both glance at each other before looking back at me. I sigh, “Please excuse me, Captains, I’m going to my room. Make sure Orange has the shields up for the incoming space debris, Captain.” I pointedly look at Black.

“Wait! Pink, we wanted to show you something first.” I look at Red confused, “ _ Both _ of you need to show me something?”

They both nod in confirmation.

_ What the fuck…? _

“...Yes, okay, Captains.” It’s not like I could decline, they’re my captains. Both of them lead me to Navigations where the two consoles sit, lighting the room up red, green, white, and yellow. One of the small box screens has a transmission video pulled up on it. Black sits in the chair, (Red standing to the left of him) and presses play. I stand on Black’s right side, the video starting a little static and the sound just as disoriented. 

There is a person in a pale Orange suit leaning in front of the camera. They start speaking: “Captain’s- *crackle* Day 13. Containment Breach.” 

_ Containment Breach?  _ “Is this from the ship that was just attacking us?” 

Black confirms my question with a nod and points back to the video. “Pay attention.”

“Another one is gone. The crew has fallen into mutiny. No one trusts anyone. Another one of us disappears when we venture out to maintain the ship.” The way Black and Red stare at the screen tells me that they’ve already watched this a million times. A million and one. Red can’t stand still and he keeps glancing over at me.

“We’ve lost good people out here.” Their words cut to my thoughts of Red ejecting Brown into space. I can almost feel his breath on the back of my neck like he is still here… Red is looking at me again. Staring, as if he knows who I am thinking about. The feeling is gone before I can reach out for it and the video comes back into my focus. 

“We set up an emergency meeting center but… it was fruitless. Only bodies were found thereafter the first day. The last one… what happened to Blue. *crackle* - was- *crackle* father of three.” Holy shit.  _ Holy shit.  _ It’s starting to sound familiar. Why  _ do _ we have an emergency button? Why is everyone so familiar with the protocols? Even Mira has an emergency button but no one ever uses it. The overhead PA was more useful since it is such a full and busy ship.

“Our ship will not make it to our destination. Our communications have been sabotaged, our oxygen supply is short... We only have a few personal canisters left. There are too few of us remaining.” I want to ask Captain Black what the ship was called, maybe where they were headed to, but the transmission is only titled *CL_13-CB-P4782*.

“I’m recording this for all the survivors out there. There was- *crackle* n’  **_impostor_ ** \-  _ among us _ .”

There’s that word again. _ Impostor _ . This is the second or third? time I've heard this word, this name.

“I don’t know what it is.” 

He is still speaking when something in the background catches my eye and I exclaim, “Wait!… is that?!”

“Shhh!” Black and Red shush me. I close my mouth quickly.

“But... it’s not human.”

“*static* Don’t trust it, alright?!” Loud, blaring alarms start ringing in the background of the audio. “Reactor meltdown. Please make your way to the Reactor room to stabilize the reactor.” The ship’s computer PA’s over the intercoms of their ship. The shape behind them becomes more apparent, loud growling coming from it.

“If you come across this transmission, good luck out there. Mango says hello… and goodbye.” The video crackles and statics again, yelling, and stuff being thrown around are heard, Mango exclaims, “So it was you?” A green shape comes into view of the camera. Their body is unnaturally split open from the middle, the sides, the top of what was once their head. It’s gross… but alluring.  _ All those teeth, _ I’d never seen an alien before, being accused of one before, but if this was an impostor… Does that mean there were others? Mango’s voice surfaces into my ears: “I should have known!” And then the short cut out of the audio because of the ship blowing up. 

The ship’s computer voice speaks to us, “Transmission ended. Would you like to replay the footage?” Two options come up and Black clicks cancel, logging it into a recent file titled Day 13; which must mean they’ve been out on a mission for thirteen days now. Red is looking down at his boots while Black turns his helmet toward me to look at me properly. Did I just destroy a ship with a survivor aboard? We could have saved them... right? Red could have figured something out, Black has experience with spacewalking… no, it couldn’t have been prevented. A containment breach… Black- the Captain, wouldn’t have taken the risk. Red wouldn't have wanted to take the risk.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in and asked, “So, that was…?”

“An Impostor, yes. Red informed me you had no clue what one was. Which is why you inappropriately acted the way you did.”

_ Inappropriately!  _ “Inappropriately?” I ask in an incredulous tone. “How… You saw.. what I saw Red! You guys literally voted off an innocent and your way of dealing with the matter was to eject him into space! No helmet, no oxygen, not even an option of an escape pod! How is how I acted any more inappropriate? He wasn’t even- 

Black spins around and stands up quickly, “That’s enough, Pink!”

I flinch, bringing my arms to my chest protectively, backing toward the open threshold. I speak softly, “You can’t seriously think ejecting him without any proof (into space) was just as appropriate?”  _ We lost someone we didn’t need to lose _ , is what I want to say. Surely the video, the transmission we just saw should make that clear enough. I must look petrified because I can barely breathe through my constricted throat at the words I am hearing coming from my Captain’s own lips. I must look white or red of anger. How does Mira condemn this behavior? The last ship I was on had long since gotten a reputation… What if this crew ship ended up the same way?

Black clears his throat and sits down with the back of his chair facing me. Red is still by his side but his head is turned downward, avoiding my gaze. “I’ll admit,” he begins, putting a hand on Red’s left arm, “We could have dealt with the situation better, but we were also dealing with another impostor infested ship, which by the way, was attacking us. We could not risk the precautions.”

Risk. Risk.  _ Risk. _ I want to scream at him. At them both. I blurt, “Excuse my inappropriateness, Captain, but what if that had been Orange? Would you say the same thing?”

“I suppose we’ll never know now will we, Pink?” Is Black’s rhetorical answer, cynical dropping from every word that leaves his mouth. His gloved hand pats against the console, like some evil villain in a movie. This must be their true faces: Red is not as enthusiastic as the first day I arrived and Black… he was pretty bad at faking his double facade. “You’re dismissed, Pink. I hope to see you at supper with a better attitude.” 

I bite my tongue, “Yes, of course, Captain. I will try my best.” Before I turn to go I give Red a short nod of acknowledgement and leave the room, the doors sliding closed behind me. I let out a loud sigh and began the walk back to my room. 

In my passings, Orange is in Shields with Purple who is screwing a panel back into place. They wave half-heartedly at me and I do the same. “See you at the next meal,” they say, Purple’s tired smile making me feel just as so, while Orange’s posture tells me the same. No one is in Communications but a repeated message plays, “Is anybody out there?! Please help! We’ve been breached! Somebody help us- *buzzet* Is anybody out there?!…” I enter the Storage room and it’s eerily quiet but Yellow is here, and she has a clipboard with a list of items on it. 

“Hi Yellow,” I wearily greeted. She turns to me, her dark brown hair glistening with sweat and amber eyes striking in the low lighting of the room. “Uh, wow, um,” I stutter, “I was just passing through. I’m supposed to be meeting Cyan in Purple and I’s room. How are you?” I mentally bonk my head,  _ So stupid, stupid, stupid!  _

She laughs, and it sounds like a thousand satisfying clicks of turning the lights back on in my ears.“Adorable, really, Pink. I should be asking you that question after you ran off earlier...” I suck in a breath,  _ Brown. _ “But I am doing okay, considering the circumstances. Although, I do think it’s good of you to check on Cyan.” She comes closer to me almost an inch away now. I can feel her body heat like she is a whole-power nuclear reactor. “Not everyone is as kind as you, Pink.” Her hand reaches forward, brushing through my short, pink dyed hair, scratching my scalp gently. I instantly melt in her touch, my eyes drooping in pleasure and she chuckles at this, “You’re so adorable Pink.” She repeats, completely trapping me in her body vicinity. 

“How are you doing,” She leans down, her locks tickling my under the chin, and whispers into my ear, “...Jellybean?” 

The suggestive tone puts off the silly nickname so I pull away some and laugh, “I, uh,” I clear my throat and try again, “I’m a little less than okay, yes, considering what happened with… Brown. And I understand that my actions were super inappropriate and I’m sorry if it makes me look less of a person in front of you but I don’t understand how  _ anyone  _ could selfishly throw someone out like that?!” My breathing increases and she quickly pulls me into a hug. I can smell her tangy sweat but the smell is a little off. It smells… sweeter than normal human body odor. The vulnerability of my situation has me speaking into her chest, “I know what it’s like to be ejected into space like that. Having no way to avoid your impending doom.” 

She pulls back a little to look down at me, “You weren’t acting inappropriately at all! And, you’ve… been ejected before?” I nod, not able to find my voice, biting my lip to hold my sobs in as a few tears fall from my eyes. She removes one of her arms from around my waist and raises it to wipe them away. “Oh, magoro, it’ll be okay. I won’t let anyone ever do that to you again. You’re safe here. With me.” The endearment calms my tears but my heart still races at what Brown’s final moments must have been like, choking on nothing. Maybe his last thoughts were of Cyan; I hope his last thoughts were of Cyan. “You should go see if Cyan is there yet. It shouldn’t have taken Green long to do a once over him.”

“I don't know,” I say, “After I told him about Brown he denied Green’s assurances.” Yellow hums and the vibration courses through my own body. I shiver in delight and she chuckles again. I blush red and she does as well, “I guess, I should… yeah.” I point behind me and carefully untangle myself from her inviting arms. “Thank you for the, uh, hug and, um, words. See ya!” I rush off, hearing her giggles from behind me, and blush even harder.  _ Oh god, she must think I’m an idiot!  _ I dread the time dinner comes. 

When I reach my shared room, Cyan is sitting slouched over on my bed. Purple’s helmet sits on her corner nightstand while mine rests in Cyan’s hands, which dangle between his spread legs. I slowly walk over toward him gently sitting on the edge of the mattress. He doesn’t move or say anything for a minute, seeming to be in deep thought. 

Suddenly he says, “This was in the cafeteria,” as he hands me back my helmet. I thank him for it and his voice comes out scratchier than I expect it to be: “Did he suffer?” 

I don’t know how to respond at first so he turns his dull, yellow eyes to me and asks again, “Did Brown suffer? Was my partner in  _ pain _ when he died?”

I choke, “Yes. He… Brown was in torture.” I don’t lie. There would be no reason to lie. He, Cyan, needed to hear the truth. 

“Thank you.”

I look at him surprised:  _ Thank you? _ “Why would you thank me? We literally  _ killed  _ your lover. I could have-

He puts his hand on my bicep, “Stop it. You didn’t… You couldn’t have. What’s done is done. Besides,” he sighs, “this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”

My voice comes out more heavily than I’d like to admit, “What do you mean?” I ask, wondering if my earlier suspicions were true: that they’ve done this before.

He sighs again, lacing his fingers together in between his legs, “It was a long time ago. Maybe two synodics before you. The crew was still new at the time. We had two White crewmates and two Yellow crewmates. Funny thing, really, at the time.”

“But?” I question, knowing there must be one.

“But the doubles ended up being Impostors. One white, one yellow. They begged, oh god how they begged to be spared.” He rubs at his face, maybe for his tears or maybe to block the sounds of past voices out. “We did. We left them on an abandoned moon site and Mira HQ picked them up draconics later.” That must be who those two prisoners are that I always heard about on Mira, I thought. Cyan turns to me and I hold his stare, “Why didn’t they spare him?” His voice cracks and I feel the tears come back again. 

I let out a stuttered breath and say, “I don’t know, Cyan, but they should have. They had no evidence. They didn’t even wait for you to recover. They should have waited for you…-” I jump when he suddenly launches himself at my torso, hugging me. He starts sobbing loudly and I hug him closer, telling him nothing’s, hushing him. Then it hits me: “Is that why you were so scared of Red?”

His voice sounds congested when he speaks, “What do you mean?”

I rest my arms flat against his back and mention my early observation: “When we first met, and he ordered you to do something you acted terrified.”

He immediately starts crying harder than before, shouting, “Yes!” It comes out like a sort of choked whine and I have to take a moment to breathe before I wrap my arms tighter around his back, rubbing my fingers along his spine. “Shhshshh… I’m here,” I shush him lightly. “You can stay here as long as you want. We can eat here, we can go wherever you like. I won’t make you face the others after what they did until you are ready to.”

“I sense a but coming on.” He sniffles a wet laugh between his crying, making me smile sadly. 

“But… I want to know you and about your rivalry with White.” He stills at the name and I instantly regret asking. He’d just lost his closest friend and lover and I was being selfish. His crying is quieter now- like he has stopped altogether. I open my mouth to dismiss that I'd ever said a thing and go to pull away but he pulls his arms tighter around my torso. 

“No…! I… I suppose I should start at the beginning.” His tone suggests it will be a long story so I proceeded to lay backward, pulling him to rest his back against the wall, my back facing the other side of the room. 

His trembling seems to have subsided against me, bringing his head to rest against the flat pillows we were issued from command. He lifts his gaze to mine and tenderly uses his tongue to wet his lips. “It was after White had arrived back from a mission on Polus. He had gone there with another crewmate named Snow because they had the same suit coloration.” He starts curling his fingertips under the loose folds of my suit on my back. “Snow and White were the only two that came back from Polus… We didn’t know anything was wrong at the time but then Snow started acting very paranoid. I woke up one morning and found him covered in blood.” He doesn’t turn his head from my gaze. He barely stops to take a breath between his speaking points. “It was almost as if he showered in their remains. He was begging to be spared with Lemon (yellow) after we found out she was working with him.”

I don’t notice it until Cyan raises his gloved hand to wipe a stray tear on my cheek away. His yellow irises are intense, his voice breaks off with a pause. “The thing is, sidereals later, White was starting to act like how Snow did before they’d left for their Polus Expedition. Rude, distancing himself from me. It was like we'd never been friends. Like he was wearing a mask until the two had been ejected.”

“That’s… awful.” I hug his head to my chest before skimming off of the bed, removing his arms from around me. “All this crying has made me hungry. Would you like to stay here while I go and grab us a bite?” He nods silently, his hair scratching the thin pillow sheets.

\- - - - -

A second emergency meeting this hebdomad sounds throughout the ship. Silent red lights are flashing in the corridor that I am in as I head back to my quarters. Two trays of food rest against my biceps and I groan in annoyance. There was no way that they were going to accuse someone again! Cyan steps out of the room, hair disheveled with Purple behind him looking just as much the same.

Once everyone arrives in the cafeteria, the one standing at the button closes the glass protector lid, causing the lights to stop flashing. 

Blue doesn’t waste his time to throw accusations: “It’s Yellow!”

“What?! How! I’ve been with you the entire time.” She deadpans. 

“Exactly. You’ve been following me!”

…

“Hold on a minute,” Blue turns to me and Cyan, “Cyan, you never told us what happened since you were unconscious.” All eyes point to Cyan.

Everyone agrees, nodding and speaking at the same time, “Yeah, Cyan, tell us what you saw.” Red and White especially jester.

While he recalls to everyone what happened I notice Blue and White giving each other looks. My eyebrow raises in confusion and I look to Yellow to see her giving them both glares. I grow even more confused, what does she have against the two? 

“I didn’t see who grabbed me, just that Brown tried saving me.” Everyone grows quiet at that. They finally saw their mistake. Even Black falters in his crossed-arm position.

“So it wasn’t Brown… so what? Can anyone confirm Yellow was in her room last night?” Blue dismisses Cyan like he’s trying to get rid of Yellow- like he _ wants  _ to. It’s quiet again. “That’s what I thought. My vote goes to Yellow.” I watch in surprise as Red and Black follow, White not much of a surprise. I look to Cyan to see what he’ll do and he votes for her as well.

“Cyan?” I say surprised. He looks at me dead inside. I shiver and instead look to Lime: they vote to skip while Green, Purple, Yellow, Orange, and I vote Blue.

The message:  **_Nobody was ejected (Tie)_ ** , appears on our screens and I sigh in relief.

“Hey!” Blue shouts, angry, “Why did you vote for me!” 

Yellow snorts, crossing her arms, eyes burning with just as much anger, “You have no proof! You can’t just accuse me of attempted murder because nobody ‘saw’ me.” 

Orange agrees with her, “It is kind of sus of you to say that Blue.”

“Whatever.” He says, throwing his device onto the table and stomping away. White trails after him but nobody is paying attention to them anymore. I look across the table and see a few of the crew who’d voted Yellow, apologies. It seems the over looming threat has passed for now and my stomach agrees with this by the growling of hunger. Purple laughs and Lime’s kid jumps up and down with impatientness. 

However, even if this problem was solved perfectly, it doesn’t really end the question of what the intruders are planning to do next. Realistically, there was only one way this was going to go. Either we vote each other off one by one until we find the impostors or we die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is late... super late... but Happy Halloween 🎃💀
> 
> The transmission video dialogue was based on a youtube video.
> 
> synodics = years
> 
> draconics = months
> 
> hebdomad = a week
> 
> sidereals = days


End file.
